Meet your Board Certified Lactation Consultants and

Lavender Lactation® Team:

Dawnalea Robinson Kneese, BSN, RN, IBCLC

Dawnalea was born and raised in California and set down roots in Nashville. She is the Founder of Lavender Lactation® and has always had a calling to assist families in meeting their breastfeeding and lactation goals. Dawnalea is a Registered Nurse who holds a Bachelors degree in science. She has worked in many fields of nursing, including emergency medicine, critical care, and pediatrics.

why Lactation?

When my first child was born, I struggled with breastfeeding and this fueled my desire to pursue a career in human lactation. My passion grew and expanded as I began offering support both online and in clinical settings.

becoming an ibclc

The primary focus was to bridge the gap in family-based education around breastfeeding and human lactation. Five years her first breastfeeding journey began, she passed the exam to become an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, achieving the most rigorous credential for lactation care. Dawnalea is a mother to 3 children, owner of Lavender Lactation established in 2016, and has been Board Certified since 2018. Dawnalea has also assisted in the mentorship of new IBCLC’s and Pathway 3 interns.

Training: Dawnalea has completed the IBCLC Masterclass with advanced training in tethered oral tissues (tongue, lip, and buccal ties) and oral habilitation of the breastfeeding dyad. This includes training on oral motor exercises and pre and post care for release. Dawnalea has also taken advanced training in bottle refusal and the maternal to infant microbiome.

Donna Wisniewski, BSN, RN, IBCLC

Donna is originally from the Milwaukee area and moved nine years ago to Franklin, Tennessee, with her family.  She started her nursing career in 1996, working in the adult ICU, and moved to Neonatal Intensive Care a few years later.  After working in a Level III NICU for ten years, caring for sick and premature infants, she obtained her certification as a NICU nurse in 2010.  Her love of helping moms breastfeed came from her struggles as a new mom; Donna began to recognize her passion for breastfeeding and became more proactive in assisting mothers in the NICU where she worked.  In 2019, Donna pursued her certification as a Lactation Consultant and began a new career as an LC at St. Thomas Midtown in Nashville.   Loving her new role as a consultant and wanting to expand her education to assist breastfeeding mothers, she obtained her Board certification as an IBCLC in 2021.  Donna has partnered with Lavender Lactation since 2021 to offer home or virtual breastfeeding consults. Donna serves Nashville, Franklin, Cool Springs, and Brentwood, TN areas.

Jessica Neely: IBCLC intern AND DOULA

Jess is our Pathway 3 intern and may be present at your next visit. Lavender Lactation is proud to mentor and help expand IBCLC’s to more families in need. As a pathway 3 intern, Jess is following the guidelines set forth by the IBLCE to become a professional lactation consultant who is internationally board-certified. This requires 500 hands-on hours directly supervised by an IBCLC, 95 hours of lactation-specific education, 14 health science courses, and sitting for the board exam.

Jess is a Nashville native born and raised here in middle Tennessee. She has been passionate about women’s health for as long as she can remember. For two and half years, she worked at Music City Health Center - a Chiropractic and Functional Medicine office. Here, she enjoyed serving families every season, from pediatric, prenatal, and beyond. She has enjoyed working to keep families healthy and educating them on holistic practices. After having her first child in 2023, her drive for this work flourished, and she is passionate about bridging the gap in breastfeeding education and supporting mothers and families through pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. Jess is a birth and postpartum doula pursuing Certification to become a Board Certified Lactation Consultant. Jess will sit for the exam in early 2025 and will be joining our official IBCLC team.

JOy Johnson, RN, BSN, IBCLC

Joy was born in California and spent most of her formative years in Chicago, later returning to California, where she earned her Bachelor of science in nursing. Joy spent 23 years working in maternal and child health. Joy has extensive experience in the NICU and postpartum/nursery. Joy has also worked as a certified lactation educator (CLE), teaching prenatal and breastfeeding classes. Joy spent 20 years of her career visiting NICU babies after hospital discharge and helping them return to the breast and feed better. This experience motivated her to become an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), and in 2019 she obtained the board certification. More than half of the twin mothers she has helped since became exclusively breastfeeding “Mother of Multiples.” Joy loves challenges and won't give up if you don't.

Why lactation?

In 1977, after bottle-feeding almost all the babies in the newborn nursery every night, Joy realized very few mothers even tried to breastfeed. We were a bottle-feeding culture. Helping mothers become successful at breastfeeding has been her passion since nursing her three children, even when it was not popular. She learned many things through personal experience, taking many courses, and guiding families to success.

Joy donates her time to local ministry at Long Hollow Church, where she helps expectant parents and single mothers. She has four grandchildren and resides in middle Tennessee.